The pop artist Taylor Swift, most commonly known for her contagious hooks in songs such as ‘Shake it off’ or attention-grabbing lyrics which keep us all updated on her current affairs, faced copyright allegations made by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler following its release in 2014. The double platinum single, which firmly implanted the titled words ‘Shake it off’ on the lips of the nation allegedly embezzled the lyrics “players gonna play, and haters, they gonna hate” from the song titled ‘Playas Gon’ Play’ released by girl-group 3LW in 2000.
On February 13th, Federal Judge Michael Fitzgerald, dismissed such an action on the ground that post-2001, the concepts of players and haters were an integral concept in American pop-culture thus the alleged infringed lyrics lacked the necessary originality and creativity to merit copyright protection under copyright legislation. Fitzgerald did however, grant Hall and Butler leave to amend the complaint and gather further evidence, nonetheless, Attorney Gerard Fox has stated his intentions to instead appeal the ruling.
>Sean Hall d.b.a Gimme Some Hot Sauce Music, et al. v Taylor Swift, et.al
